If the geranium has not bloomed in May, then it's time to ring the bells

Fiery fireworks, fellow flower growers!

Do you want your pelargonium to finally delight with bright flower umbrellas? You need to be on your guard when May comes to an end, and there are still no buds. After reading the article to the end, you will find out why your beloved geranium does not want to bloom by the due date and how to fix the situation, which will help you to finally see a beautiful bloom.

I love geraniums, keeping zoned and royal pelargoniums in my house and garden. For several years of intense passion for applied floriculture, I found a common language with plants and I know what they want and why they refuse to bloom.

Should I sound the alarm?

Pelargoniums are generally extremely unpretentious flowers. Even modern hybrids, the photos of which delight inexperienced florists on the Internet, have kept the predictability of their conduct from their parents, albeit they have become somewhat capricious.

According to all the laws of floriculture, in mid-May the sun shines actively and the mass flowering of pelargonium begins. The situation when such an unpretentious plant refuses to pick up buds speaks of very serious violations of agricultural technology.

So let's understand them!

The most harmless reason geranium refuses to bloom is the young age of the cuttings or shoots.

Yes, sometimes rooted pelargonium picks up buds while still a baby. Why it is bad for a young plant and it is better to break off the peduncle is a separate topic. But usually, for the start of flowering, geranium increases its green mass. As it should be.

The second option is late pruning, after which pelargonium simply has not yet had time to grow shoots. And, accordingly, the peduncles have nowhere to grow. All that remains is to wait and take care of the plant as expected. And for the future, remember: in order for the geranium to bloom by summer, pruning must be done in February-March. It takes an average of 2 months from pruning to flowering.

Geranium is a child of light

Geranium grows quickly and blooms profusely in a sunny place (diffused lighting counts!) And almost does not please its owner, being thrown in the shade. In winter, when daylight hours are very short, geranium demonstratively sheds part of the leaves. Good light is the key to successful geranium cultivation.

Some growers remove geraniums from windowsills, moving them into the room, because "It looks better there." But, believe me, not a single houseplant has ever worried about human problems of aesthetics. Place the plant on a sunny windowsill - give it enough light.

Domestic geranium problems

Surely you have noticed that street pelargoniums grow faster and bloom more abundantly than house sisters. One of the secrets why this happens is the differences in day and night temperatures. In the house, for obvious reasons, this does not happen.

The lack of drops is not the main reason why indoor geraniums do not bloom. But if you regularly ventilate the room and pamper the plant with fresh air, it will begin to pick up buds more willingly. Is it possible to open the window at night? Fine!

Estimate the size of the pot

You should not plant pelargonium in a pot for growth. Abundant flowering can not be expected until the roots cover the entire earthen lump. Take a pot 2 to 3 cm larger in diameter than the diameter of the root system.

There is another danger in the big pot. Imagine: roots entangle only half of the earth. This means that moisture from the bottom half of the pot will evaporate much more slowly, the top layer will dry out. Seeing the dry ground, the florist waters the geranium again. Once again... So the lower part of the pot turns sour and you get a swamp - a breeding ground for rot.

Fertilizers that make geraniums bloom

Pelargoniums grow well in poor land, but they need food to bloom with caps. First of all, potassium and phosphorus. When geranium grows in one pot without transplanting for more than a year, the need for mineral fertilizers "For blooming" becomes inevitable.

Despite the popularity of the advice to feed geraniums with iodine, the method is not quoted among professional florists. Its effectiveness is not substantiated by anything and belongs to the category of floriculture myths.

To bring flowering closer, now is the time to spray the geranium with a potassium monophosphate solution.

Another case is the result - the natural result of improper feeding - fat-eating geranium. Thick trunks, large green leaves, and lack of flowering are a sure sign of nitrogen or organic overfeeding. In this case, a rigid diet will help - a complete absence of dressings for 1-2 months with further smooth introduction of potassium-phosphorus fertilizers.

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